Thursday, April 14, 2005

"A series of moves are afoot to turn the socioeconomic clock back for most wage earners--and we’re not talking just a few decades.

Not just back to the McKinley era--a time of robber barons, cheap labor and no pesky environmental regulations. In fact, current policy moves aim to turn the clock backward, not to the 19th century, but to the 13th. They’re going totally medieval on the social safety net.

"What will this new feudalism look like? An awful lot like the old one, but substitute "big business" for "nobility." Under the feudal system of the early Middle Ages--and contrary to popular opinion--nations were not governed by kings, but rather by the feudal barons, who ran their estates, minted their own currency, taxed and drafted their subjects and administered justice. Often, the feudal barons or lords had greater resources--larger armies and heftier treasuries--than the king.